McFARLANE TOYS TEAMS UP WITH UBISOFT® FOR NEW ‘ASSASSIN’S CREED®’ ACTION FIGURE LINE

February 16, 2013

Action Figures to Arrive at Retailers Summer 2013

McFarlane Toys in partnership with Ubisoft announced today a licensing agreement to bring Assassin’s Creed®, one of world’s most successful video games franchises, to store shelves.

McFarlane Toys’ Assassin’s Creed series 1 will consist of seven figures including the fan favorite characters of Connor and Haytham Kenway. Connor will come as two action figures – one in his Assassin’s Creed® III traditional Assassins garb and the second, as Ratonhnhaké:ton in the upcoming “Tyranny of King George” storyline. Each figure will be sculpted in the hyper-detail the award-winning McFarlane is known for with collectors and fans.

The Assassin Creed figure line of figures will stand approximately six inches tall, include an average of 25 points of articulation, and will come with a unique code that unlocks exclusive Assassin’s Creed video game content!

Assassin’s Creed has grown to become Ubisoft’s fastest-selling IP of the current console generation. Initially launched in 2007, the first four Assassin’s Creed games have sold more than 40 million units worldwide, and the franchise is now established as one of the best-selling series ever. The fifth game, Assassin’s Creed III, launched in October 2012, and is now the fastest-selling game in the company’s history, with total sell-through topping the 7 million mark worldwide just one month after its release.

Recognized for having some of the richest, most engrossing storytelling in the industry, Assassin’s Creed transcends video games, branching out into other entertainment experiences including comic books, Facebook games, novels, short films and more. The series celebrated its fifth anniversary in 2012, and an Assassin’s Creed feature film is currently in development.

Todd McFarlane, CEO and founder of McFarlane Toys, said, “I’m always excited to work with a premiere entertainment company like Ubisoft. Their world-class studios have created some of the most compelling video games in recent memory. The Assassin’s Creed series is a huge hit with gamers, and continues to grow in popularity. We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to create high-quality collectibles based on their games, and to bring them to a wide audience at a reasonable price.”

Todd explains, “We’re always looking to raise the bar with our figures, and Ubisoft has been a great partner to help make that happen. These will be the first McFarlane Toys to include integration with the game itself. Our Assassin’s Creed figures will include codes that unlock unique content in game – things like new weapons, clothing colors, or other customization options. Features like this reward the hardcore fans who buy the figures, and give collectors some added value.”

“McFarlane Toys is renowned for their creativity, authenticity and incredibly detailed action figures,” said Tony Key, senior vice president of sales and marketing, Ubisoft. “We’re excited to partner with Todd to bring the colorful characters in the Assassin’s Creed universe as action figures to consumers.”

McFarlane Toys’ Assassin’s Creed action figures will retail for $14.99-$16.99 and will be available at major mass and specialty retailers in the United States, Canada, South America, Australia, Mexico and New Zealand including Walmart, Target, Toys “R” Us, GameStop, Amazon, local comic book stores, and more.

About Ubisoft
Ubisoft is a leading producer, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment products worldwide and has grown considerably through a strong and diversified lineup of products and partnerships. Ubisoft has offices in 26 countries and has sales in more than 55 countries around the globe. It is committed to delivering high-quality, cutting-edge video game titles to consumers. For the 2010–11 fiscal year Ubisoft generated sales of 1.039 billion euros. To learn more, please visit http://www.ubisoftgroup.com.

McFarlane Toys
McFarlane Toys is the fifth largest action figure manufacturer in the United States. Established in 1994 to manufacture and sell action figures based on founder Todd McFarlane’s comic book character Spawn, the international award-winning company has expanded into licensed products to become one of the premiere action figure producers on the planet. Check out the McFarlane Toys’ Catalog, where you can see all of our current figures, previews of upcoming toys, and even a massive archive of every action figure we’ve ever made.

Daniel “Julius Marx” Pickett has been around toys his whole life. The first line he ever collected was Mego’s World’s Greatest Super Heroes line back in the 70s. He has been surrounded by collectables ever since.
In 1999 he was confounded by a lack of information and news about some of his favorite toy lines he was collecting. Since he couldn’t find the information he decided to pursue it himself thinking other people might also be interested in the same news. He started writing a weekly column on the toy industry and action figure for a toy news site and in a years time he tripled the sites daily traffic with his updates, reviews and product features.
He built relationships with every major toy manufacturer and many sculptors, painters and mold makers. He grew his hobby into a world wide expertise that the industry has embraced.
In 2004 he teamed up with his toy buddy Jason “ToyOtter” Geyer and they created their own website www.ActionFigureInsider.com.
Daniel has been quoted in both industry and mass media press outlets. Over the years Daniel and AFi have been sought out as experts in the field. Daniel was regularly featured on “Attack of the Show” on the G4 network as the primary contributor to their “Mint On Card” segment, and our front page has been linked to from USA Today’s
“Pop Candy” Blog twice. Daniel’s content has also been featured on MSNBC.com,
Wired.com, Fark.com, Boing-Boing, Gizmodo.com, Ain’t It Cool News, the Official
Star Wars blog, Geekologie, G4, CNet and Toy Fare magazine, among many
others. He has consulted on toy lines, books, documentaries and TV shows.
But all of that really just sounds snooty and “tootin’ his own horn” – the long and short of it is that Daniel loves toys and he LOVES talking about them.